The late Kevin Sullivan, former WCW booker and a wrestling legend, shed light on the controversial signing of WWE Hall of Famer, The Ultimate Warrior by WCW in 1998.
Sullivan’s insights, in an interview on The Hannibal TV, expose the intricate politics behind the scenes of professional wrestling during one of its most tumultuous eras. According to Sullivan, the primary motivation for bringing The Ultimate Warrior into WCW was not to boost ratings or introduce fresh storylines but rather to appease the ego of one of wrestling’s biggest stars: Hulk Hogan. Sullivan stated:
It was Hogan getting the win back. That bothered him, that he did a job for Ultimate Warrior, that was the whole thing to bring him back.
The “job” Sullivan refers to was Hulk Hogan’s loss to The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI in 1990, a match that many consider a passing of the torch in WWE. However, it appears that Hogan never truly let go of that defeat. Sullivan’s comments highlight the stark contrast between Warrior’s style and the direction WCW was taking at the time.
The business had changed then, if you look at the talent we had underneath there was a lot of wrestling, and then we had the violence with NWO, and then here comes The Warrior, it’s completely off-centred to what the wrestling was.
The former booker didn’t mince words when describing Hogan’s motivations:
But this was Hulk’s way of getting the win back when he put him over at WrestleMania. Strange, he put himself ahead of business.
What Did Eric Bischoff Say Was Hulk Hogan’s Biggest Issue With Joining WCW?
Eric Bischoff spoke about the biggest issue Hulk Hogan had with joining WCW in 1994 and surprisingly it wasn’t money or schedule as many have speculated in the past, but rather, according to Bischoff, Hogan was more concerned about having the right opponents to face when he joined the company and wanted to have a lengthy program with Ric Flair to kick off his time with WCW.
H/t to TJR Wrestling.net